catalina trip

[karmajewell]

Hi ya bubble buds just wanted to share our trip with ya ha ha no pun intended. Any hoo my husband Travis and I went to Catalina for the weekend. The weather was nice and cozy. For some reason viz wasn't the usual stellar blue but still very pretty. For our first dive we hit our favorite wreck in catalina called the valient. This is a bit of an advanced dive as the bow rest in the sand just over 100fsw. Most of the wreck is between 70-85fsw. You must get permission from the harbor master on the pier, they are very nice about it and it cost nothing. The reason is so no one dropps an anchor on your head, so that's a plus:) A whole lot of life to see on this wreck and when it's time to get shallow you can cruise up the sandy slope much like here in San Diego. The local dive operations are more than happy to give advice about this site. Truley is one of our favorite gems. Next day we hit up casino point dive park. Two dives here second one we cruised through the kelp and stumbled upon the su jac wreck just outside the kelp in the park. WOW also a cool wreck. Our bottom time was running short when we found it but I would definatly make the trip straight there next time then mozy back through the forest. Head straight out from the stairs north to the outer edgde of the kelp then cruise east along the rocky terraine until you see a clearing in the kelp look slightly north and you should see the su jac wreck in about 70fsw give or take with the tides.The viz for most of the weekend stayed at around 25-30ft and the temp brrrrrr but worth every goosbump! We took a locale charter out to a spot called sea fan grotto. Oh ma gosh what a sight! There is a small cave with sea fans of all different colors growing out of the ceiling and just everywhere. I hope the pictures come out I will post them later. The cave is large enough for two divers to go in. I observed from the outside as I didn't want to kick any of the georgous sea fans. Any hoo you can follow this field of sea fans for quite some time, awsome!! Second sight was called ithsmus reef. Also a great spot, we found a large moray eel peering out from it's lair. He cheezed it up for the camera. This site had a many wall like ledges and outcroppings. Also you could just level out and cruise through the kelp across the top of the reef, very cool site. The layout was so diverse we loved it! This sight has a rep for current and sure enough by the end of our dive we were tugging on the current line to get back to the boat. So watch out for that. Well that about sums it up, great diving we look foward to doing it again. Cheers